1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Final Panel In the Laundry Closet

With the back and side wall and floor in the laundry closet epoxy coated, next I made the top panel that will fill the space between the back panel and the panel around the porthole.

The laundry closet is coming together

I taped off the aft wall in preparation for varnishing later in the day. I need to make the top panel first, which will also be varnished.

Nothing’s square on a boat

The last sheet of marine-grade okume plywood is getting smaller and smaller

Nice fit!

I rounded the “top edge” to a 3/8″ radius

Next, I cut rabbets all the way around

Since electrical, plumbing, and HVAC ducting will run behind the laundry closet back wall, this top panel needs to be removable. The idea is that the panel won’t just sit on top of the back wall panel and mahogany cleats around the opening, it’ll be inset a bit to better ensure a good seal. I want to keep air conditioned air inside the living spaces, and outside air–whether cold or hot–needs to stay outside the air conditioned space.

A router cleans up the rabbet all the way around

At this point I was very happy. The panel fit had been perfect, and the rabbet idea turned out very nice, too. There was just one problem…

I’m an idiot

I didn’t keep track of which side was the top and ended up rounding the bottom and putting a lovely rabbet in the top. The panel only fits one way…it cant be reversed. So…

I made another panel, taking great care this time to keep track of which side was up

The second panel turned out nicely, too

With one coat of Minwax Spar Varnish on the panel, next I applied a coat to the aft wall.

That okume isn’t a bad looking wood

For the inside of a laundry closet, this is turning out pretty nice.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wiring the Laundry Closet

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cutting and fitting the Port Salon Cabinet

With the ceiling panels insulated and installed under the port side deck, next I got to work on the salon cabinet.

The ceiling panels under the deck are done

Dry fit the salon cabinet face panel

When we started on this refit, I was surprised to see that Chris Craft hadn’t finished the cabinet interiors with mahogany. Instead, when you opened the cabinet doors you could see the hull and douglas fir plywood floors, which they painted white. The missus doesn’t like that look (and, frankly, neither do I), so I’ll build a mahogany box to fit on the backside of the cabinet face panel, so when the doors are open we’ll see pretty wood.

Breaking down a 1/2″ sheet of mahogany plywood

The stack of plywood in the salon is getting smaller with each passing month. When it’s gone, the interior should be pretty much done.

The EZ-One tracksaw table makes quick work of breaking down the panel, and the cuts are super straight

Side panel is ready to dry fit

Good fit (though the pic is out of focus)

I considered running the panel all the way to the ceiling panel above, but I need to leave a gap for the air conditioning duct.

Fitting a 1″ x 1″ mahogany cleat for the cabinet bottom

Note the original white paint on the salon floor. That’s what you’d see when you opened the doors. I think my approach will be better.

More securely attaching the face panel

With the panel securely attached to the framing, it follows the slight curve of the deck.

The bottom panel edge needs a bit of a curve to match

Nice!

That looks better

It was around this point that I realized that I made a mistake when ordering the plywood. Way back when I was dealing with the paperwork snafu and making the interior concept drawings, I used the CAD program Sketchup to estimate how many sheets of plywood I’d need. I copied the panels from the drawings and pasted them onto 4’x8′ rectangles, then counted the number of rectangles (adding a bit for waste) and ordered the plywood. While I was focused on minimizing the number of sheets of plywood I’d have to buy, I didn’t even think about grain orientation. In the pic above, you can see that the grain runs from the front of the panel to the back. But for all of the other panels, the grain runs parallel to the floor. It occurred to me at this point that it would look more pleasing to the eye if the grain for the bottom panel ran along the longest dimension. But…I’ve only got so much plywood. And for a cabinet interior, I’m not sure that it’s worth the investment to buy more expensive sheets of mahogany ply to make sure the grain is all oriented properly.

I’m going to write this off to me being an amateur and never having done cabinet work before. Once the boat’s done, I’ll probably never notice…probably.

1/8″ mahogany ply for the top cabinet panel

A slot in a strip of 1/2″ plywood will stiffen up the top panel

Like that

Fitting the aft cabinet wall panel

I took the other panels home and applied a coat of Minwax urethane varnish overnight.

The wall panel is coming together

Looks good!

Fuzzy pic, but a nice, tight fit

Cutting the back panel

I’m down to the last sheet of 1/8″ mahogany plywood

Ready to dry-fit the back panel

Before

After

I took all these plywood pieces home and brushed on a few coats of urethane varnish. For cabinet interiors, it’s not worth setting up the spray booth and applying base and top coats of ICA clear, which I’ve used on all of the visible mahogany wall panels.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Assembling the Port Salon Cabinet Box.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fitting Still More Port Salon Panels

I cut more 1/8″ mahogany plywood for the under-deck ceiling panels on the port side, then took them home and put on a couple coats of Minwax urethane varnish. It’s not as tough a product as the ICA two-part catalyzed clear I’ve been using for all of the major interior paneling, but for closet interiors and other places that will never see direct sunlight it’s fine.

First, measure the gap every six inches

Marked off and ready to cut

Nice fit!

 

Plenty of space for Buffalo Batt Insulation

Two coats of Minwax later…

Time to test fit

Not bad!

Needs a batten to join the panels

Like that!

Pay no heed to the grain orientation

I’m using up the 1/8″ plywood scraps here, and I don’t care about grain orientation since the only people who will see these panels are the owner when it comes time to winterize the boat and put the ER vent panels in place, then recommissioning in the spring. They’ll be hidden behind a built-in settee.

Another batten to join the panels

The last outboard mahogany cleat is fitted

And the last panel is cut

I’ll varnish that panel then remove all of them, seal and insulate the backsides before I do the final glue-and-screw installation.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Insulating and Installing the Port Salon Panels

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Pantry Panels

I got my truck back from the transmission shop. The shifting problem it was having appears to have been resolved, but I couldn’t tell for sure because before I got to where the roads are smooth the engine threw the same crankshaft position sensor code as before. GAAH! I’m really getting sick of not having  my truck and making repeat trips to and from the shop.

That said, I am pleased with the way the pantry on the Roamer is turning out.

All panels got three coats of Minwax Spar Urethane clear

Top and bottom panels

Insulating the back-side of all the panels

A buddy of mine sold his wooden Pacemaker 43 last year and got a 41′ Marinette aluminum boat. There’s very little insulation in the Marinette, and he said it’s been a rough winter. They can’t get enough power in the boat to keep it warm. That’s bad news for him, but it makes me more and more convinced that insulating the back-side of all cabinet and wall panels that face the hull envelope is worth the effort. It takes an extra day to cut the Buffalo Batt insulation, wet out the panels with epoxy, press the insulation in place, and wait for the epoxy to cure. But it makes a big difference.

Once the insulation is in place, I press it together with whatever heavy stuff is laying around

Wood flour-thickened epoxy is a strong glue for the complex panels

This top panel will box in the pump-out plumbing

Last prep step: build out the floor at the step to the V-berth

Next day, the epoxy is cured and the panels are finally ready to install

Gluing and screwing the framing

After wetting out the cleat framing with epoxy, I apply wood flour-thickened epoxy, then screw each cleat in place. Then the panel edges and the corresponding attachment points get the same treatment.

Galley Pantry #1 is glued, screwed, and clamped in place

The back panel is 1/8″ cabinet-grade, rotary cut mahogany plywood. It’s pretty stuff, but it doesn’t stay flat on its own. At the top, there’s a 1″ x 1″ mahogany cleat that the top panel will butt up against, and that cleat keeps the top edge of the panel flat. But I had to glue and clamp another cleat onto the back-side at the bottom to keep that edge flat, too. It looks like that will work out fine.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing More Pantry Panels